


Any World That I'm Welcome To

by hhertzof



Category: The Secret Country Series - Pamela Dean
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-18
Updated: 2017-12-18
Packaged: 2019-02-16 14:12:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,676
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13055616
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hhertzof/pseuds/hhertzof
Summary: Laura's future in the Hidden Land is still up in the air...or is it?





	Any World That I'm Welcome To

**Author's Note:**

  * For [nnozomi](https://archiveofourown.org/users/nnozomi/gifts).



Ruth left for Heathwell Library in early December with Matthew and Celia and Laura's parents in tow. If she'd thought about it, Laura would have expected her to leave in the spring when the weather (and the road) would be better. But the treaty with the Dragon King required that certain documents be stored there, rather than in the Hidden Land, and the Council had decided that she should travel with the party, which would then return, hopefully, before the first snow fell.

Laura suspected it was the Council's way of getting one of the false royals out of the way, but Fence and Randolph were too busy to ask and she wasn't about to ask any of the others. Ted was also of no use in this matter. Having been excluded from the Council he'd once led, had taken the snub to heart and whenever the Council met, if he wasn't required for testimony, he would wander off to some hiding place that she hadn't found yet, acting like he didn't care.

Agatha was avoiding Laura, which was probably for the best all around. Fence (or had it been Randolph) had been right about how much Agatha cared about the royals, so Laura thought it best to leave her to grieve in her own time.

Meanwhile her parents had, not unexpectedly, become fast friends with Matthew and Celia sowhen the latter had suggested that Laura's parents join the party to Heathwell, they'd accepted with alarming alacrity. To be fair, they had probably expected their children to come along. But both Ted and Laura were still being periodically questioned by the Council, and while they might have been excused for the journey, Laura, at least, had had enough of sleeping on the ground for now.

Before they left with Ruth, Matthew and Celia had settled the Carrolls in a small suite of rooms, It was empty now, except for Laura, Ted being wherever Ted secreted himself these days. Laura went into the room she had shared with Ruth for the last few weeks and dug around in the chest at the foot of her bed until she found her knitting. Looking wistfully at the window seat, which would be cold but at least private, she turned and went back into the hall, regretting the deal she and Margaret had made with Celia.

Laura was early to the agreed upon spot in the dining hall, and Margaret hadn't arrived yet. She wondered suddenly if the other girl would show up at all. With all four of their parents away, and Agatha avoiding Laura,  
It wasn't as though they would have adult supervision. All the other adults in the castle were two busy to supervise two eleven-year-old girls and this scheme had all the earmarks of adults who were friends trying to force their kids to be friends too.

She sat down anyway and began to unroll the scarf she'd started. At least this was more interesting than the sewing she'd been assigned this morning, taking worn sheets and sewing them sides to middle. She didn't mind needlework as much as Ellen had, but that had to be the most boring task ever. Straight seams that never seemed to end.

A shadow fell over her and she looked up, expecting to see Margaret, but it was Fence. With a grin he sat down across the table from her.

"Are you our babysitter?" Laura asked suddenly, then added "our minder?" when she realized that baby-sitting wasn't really a thing in the Hidden Land. "I thought Celia just expected us to behave on our own."

"And so she did, but those of us with sense and reason considered this a foolhardy plan. So here I am, being the one easiest spared from my duties today." He pulled a small case out of somewhere in his robe. "Seest thou, I have brought a history of ours which I thought might amuse the two of you. Or an ye shall gossip, I have a letter or three to write."

Laura couldn't help laughing at this especially since she very much doubted that she and Margaret were at the gossip stage. "Very prepared, except for one thing. One of your charges is missing."

"She will come by-and-by, or I shall seek her out."

"And leave me alone to get into mischief." 

He grinned at her. "I think thou art such who does not _get into mischief_ deliberately, but has it thrust upon her. Whilst Margaret seeketh it out and when one sayeth "hold" wilt find joy in being contrary. 'Twould safer to leave you here and seek her out, for thou has the sense to stay where put."

This so fitted Laura's view of Margaret and herself that she laughed again. Missing, not for the first time, the convenience of written patterns, she spent a moment figuring out where she'd left off before asking the question she'd really been wondering. "So how much trouble are we in? Me and Ted and Ruth," she added ungrammatically, "not Margaret and me."

"Not so much as thou thinkest," he reassured her. "Without you, matters would have gone much worse, and most of the Council is cognizant of this. But whilst thy brother was crowned wrongly, he has still the oaths of everyone of useful age and until a new king is crowned-"

"Ted is still king," Laura finished for him. They hadn't even thought of that. At least, Laura hadn't and it hadn't come up when the Council had grilled them. Possibly they were afraid to give Ted ideas.

"Not quite, but he doth still have some claim to the throne, so some are concerned that if the new coronation is delayed, some might rally around thy brother and assay to convince him that his best course would be to press the matter."

"He doesn't want it, I don't think." Laura paused to pick up a dropped stitch. "And after last summer I don't think he'd willingly be a pawn in someone else's game."

"Those of us involved in Melanie's mechanations would agree with you. But he is also young, and there are some in the court who might bring such pressure to bear on him that he wouldn't know how to refuse. And some on the Council who might believe such a thing might happen because they don't trust what they do know about him."

"So where is the next king then? Not in the castle or you would have had the coronation already" Laura asked. "I remember someone listing all the heirs once but I don't remember who comes next."

"A messenger has been sent." Fence looked at her thoughtfully, then asked, "Why didst thou not go to Heathwell with thy kin?"

Laura stopped knitting and stared at him. No one had asked her that and she wasn't sure she could put it into words. Still, she tried, "Adventures aren't the same with parents around. I could have gone. Showed them around. But I've done that in the castle. They need to figure some things out for themselves. Also, it's cold and damp and I didn't really want to hike all that way again. I just wanted things to go back to normal for a little while, whatever normal is now. Sleeping in a bed, eating in the dining hall, doing whatever chores I'm assigned. Does that make any sense?" She was babbling, so it probably didn't. "Also, I'm a little worried about Ted." She hadn't realized it until the words left her lips. Ruth had been preparing for Heathwell Library, her parents had been learning how things worked here, and Laura herself had just been happy that the major crises were over. But Ted had been crown prince and then king and now he wasn't, or if he still was it was only by a technicality that the Council was actively trying to undo.

"Worry not," Fence said gravely, or as gravely as Fence ever said anything, "thy brother will settle, there are plans afoot for both thou and he that cannot move forward until the new king is crowned, but we will see to both of you."

Her knitting threatened to slip off her lap, so Laura picked it up and dumped it unceremoniously on the table. "For me?" This was news to Laura. "I just assumed that I'd do whatever it is ordinary girls do around here. Sewing and cleaning and cooking- well, not cooking, that would be a recipe for disaster." 

Too late, Laura noticed her pun, but Fence laughed anyway. "How so, when thou hast a rare talent for magic? An it please thee, once the rest is sorted, I would take thee as apprentice."

Laura's jaw dropped open. Somehow in all their adventures, she'd never even thought about learning magic. Ruth had. Possibly there were other things one _could_ study at Heathwell Library, but Ruth had done real spells. Whatever magic Laura had done had either been accidental or with the help of Cedric's flute. She realized, belatedly that Fence was waiting for a response that was more than shock, and finally found her voice. "I'd like that."

Fence grinned at her. "We may not start until the question of succession is settled. And even once thy studies begin, thou wilt still have time enough for such other tasks." He paused. "And here, Margaret approaches. Perhaps 'twere better if we kept this betwixt us for the nonce."

Rather than answer, Laura took a deep breath, and forced herself to stand on the bench and wave at Margaret, as she would have to Ted or one of her cousins. It wasn't something she'd normally do, but forcing herself to go through the motions allowed her to catch her breath. She picked up her knitting again and watched as Fence greeted Margaret, scolding her mildly for being late and laughing at her almost plausible excuse. She could grill Fence about what being an apprentice entailed later. For now, her job was to try to find some common ground with Margaret.


End file.
